Gō

JapaneseTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

A tenth of a shō, about 180.39 mL. Rice is still sold and cooked by the gō.

1 gō = 0.1803906837 liters (approximately).

About the gō

Gō is the smallest of the everyday Japanese dry and liquid measures, one tenth of a shō. Its exact size under the 1891 law is 2401/13,310 L, about 180.4 mL, matching the figure used here.

Rice is the unit's natural home. A gō is regarded as an appropriate serving of rice or sake, and electric rice cookers sold in Japan come with a measuring cup of exactly this size, so recipes still call for rice by the gō.

Since the 1959 Measurement Act the gō has had no legal standing in trade, but the cup survives in kitchens. Compared with a US cup of about 237 mL, it is a noticeably smaller measure, which is worth remembering when converting rice recipes.

Sources: Wikipedia: Japanese units of measurement; Japanese Wikipedia: Sho

Gō conversion chart

1 gō expressed in every other volume unit:

More Japanese units

• shō (volume)
• tō (volume)
• koku (volume)
• sun (length)
• shaku (length)
• ken (length)
• jō (length)
• chō (length)
• ri (Japanese) (length)
• monme (weight & mass)
• kin (weight & mass)
• kan (weight & mass)
• jō (tatami mat) (area)
• tsubo (area)
• se (area)
• tan (area)

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